The Artist Formerly Known As 19.454.18.5.25.5.18 - Spadesdance

The Artist Formerly Known As 19.454.18.5.25.5.18 - Spadesdance
19.454.18.5.25.5.18 made his Prince move back in 2011 after producing a trio of 12-inches for Horizontal Ground that, alongside efforts from Szare and AnD, were central to the imprint's early run of form. Under his new alias, the shadowy Swiss producer continued to peddle a form of ultra-distilled techno with the self-released Speed Bomb / Fond Of Rae. His silence since then has been long enough to assume that his inspiration died alongside the '90s-referencing white-label scene that spawned him. Fortunately, a new record for Clone sublabel Jack For Daze proves us wrong.

There's always been a subtle but infectious funk to the "numbers guy"'s productions, a certain swing borrowed from ghetto house that enlivens the stringent minimalism of his arrangements. "Spadesdance" has this quality in, well, spades. It's speedy even by the standards of past 19.454 productions, pogoing along at 140 BPM. While it unfolds in a pretty rote manner—a drip-drip of slashing hi-hats, claps and percussion over its near-ten minute length—the sheer grooviness of it carries us through. Clone's Serge & Tyrell lower the tempo on a pair of remixes, giving that itchy swing space to breathe. The original remix places the pitch-bent synths centre stage, while the "Space Dat Dub" dispenses with even the barest of decoration for maximum dance floor functionality.